When you realize you are now the safety net

Someone commented on Wednesday morning that it felt more like 9/11/2001 then 11/9/2016, and I felt that all the way to my soul.

When news of the planes hitting the twin towers at the World Trade Center broke, I called my mom. Just needed her hand on my shoulder (virtually) like it is in this picture. She couldn't change the fear or the anxiety about what was next, but just her presence and her voice steadied and calmed me.

In the days after 9/11, when none of us knew what was going to happen in our world, Cecil and I joked that we knew we would be okay because both of our mommies owned their homes and they would take us in. We never really thought that could happen, but there is great comfort in knowing there is a safety net.

Now I am the safety net. Both moms are gone. Cecil is gone. It is all me now.

I am the mommy who owns her home.

I am the one that is supposed to place my hand on a shoulder and make someone feel better.

I don't know how to do that.

After 9/11, the country came together, and that felt good, but it led to a lot of mistakes. Many people fell into the trap of mistaking nationalism for patriotism. Many people became more intolerant of people who didn't look or believe like them.

It became easier and easier to "other" groups of people. And there were people with money and influence who knew that they could accumulate power by pitting ordinary Americans against each other.

On Tuesday, many people who believe they are good people voted for a man who has been convicted of 34 felonies, and who was found liable for sexual assault.

I can't make anyone feel better about that. Those people probably have a variety of reasons for the choice that they made. Many of them are feeling very celebratory. Many feel like they are doing God's work.

What hurts my heart is that the people who will be hurt most in the next four years never did anything to the people that voted to hurt them.

And I can't imagine a situation where the people who voted for the instrument of all the hurt that is inevitable will accept that they bear responsibility for the carnage.

I pray it will not be as bad as I believe it will be.

I pray that somehow, someway, American democracy and the post World War II rules based order will survive.

I tried to stay out of controversial commentary on this blog, but I can't do that anymore. My books are all about seeing God's Hand in our lives and in the world. They are about people who love their neighbors; who see what needs to be done to make the world a kinder, gentler place, and do those things.

We are going to need so many people to step up and protect their neighbors - I need to find the strength to be a safety net for all of the people I love who will now need one.